Directed
by: Eduardo Sanchez
Runtime:
87 minutes
Starring:
Amy Smart, Tim Choiu, Dennis Chan
From:
Haxan Films
Here's
a random movie I saw last week which happens to be something I've
heard about for a few years now and I heard mixed reviews about. It's
from the director of another polarizing film (Blair Witch Project;
one day I'll watch it again) and I knew the basic plot but that was
about it.
The
movie is set in China and looks like it was filmed there too. To copy
and paste the plot from IMDb, “Melissa
and Yul, Americans honeymooning in China, come across the exotic
'Hungry Ghost' festival. When night falls, the couple end up in a
remote village, and soon realize the legend is all too real. Plunged
into an ancient custom they cannot comprehend, the couple must find a
way to survive the night of the Seventh Moon.”
From
what I understand the tradition is based on actual Chinese myth, but
of course there was “dramatic license” taken for the film. The
myth is that under a full moon in the seventh month of the year the
dead arise and come to our world; in this case they are painted
white.
The
idea is good but the execution... the story itself just isn't all
that exciting. Having the married couple argue and bicker often and
in a stupid manner... turn-off! Then, almost all of the story is set
at night and well, it's not lit very well. It's not as bad as
in-say-Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem, but it's still bad. Then, it's
mainly filmed handheld and well, that not only means a lot of things
are shot rather close but you also get the dreaded shaky-cam. It
definitely makes it hard to watch most of the horror aspects and it's
rather hard at times to make out the creatures. THEN, there was one
point where the story was so poorly told that I completely got
confused as to what was going on and that was a big turn-off.
So,
this wasn't a complete failure as some moments were fine; however I
wish that this would have been better due to the interesting and
different concept of the story. What a disappointment.
I'll
be back Thursday night with a new review.
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